Selectively-operated circuit-controlling device.



I. c. FIELD.

SELECTIVELY OPERATED CIRCUIT CONTROLLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1915.

1,200,095. .Y Patented o@I.3,191.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Josep/7 C. fe/af I Wy IJ. C. FIELD.

SELECTIVELY OPI-:RATED CIRCUIT CONTROLLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25.' 1915.

Patented Oct. 8, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 /n ven for. Joseph C Fie/a. by

confusion of signals will be avoided.

JOSEPH C. FIELD, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0

` WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of' Letters Patent.

Patentedoct. s, i916.

Application med March 26, 1915. 'serial N6. 17,174.

To all whom t may concern.' v

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. FIELD, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Selectively-Operated Circuit-Controlling Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to selectively operated circuit-controlling devices, yand has for its object to provide a selectively operated step-by-step device of simple construction which will operate efficiently in response to alternating current impulses.

In accordance with the general features of this invention, means are provided whereby the device will close a circuit in response to a given number of alternating current im,- pulses without regard to the polarity of the first one of the selecting impulses. To accomplish this there is provided a step-bystep element adapted to be advanced in a given direction in response to alternating current impulses through an electromagnet, and carrying oppositely extending arms, one adapted to engage a spring contact upon vone side of the step-by-step element in re.

sponse to a given number of current impulses beginning with one polarity, the other adapted to engage a second spring contactl in response to the same number of impulses through the electromagnetbeginning with the opposite polarity.

Means are provided for retaining the stepby-step element in advance position during each change in polarity of the actuating current. This4 means preferably comprises a pivotally supported member which is brought into engagement with the step-bystep device by the operation of the armature in response to each current impulse.

Another feature of this invention relates to the construction and combination of the contact springs with the contact arms and step-by-step actuating device, whereby said contact springs will be brought into engagement with said arms only in response to a given number of impulses and after current has been removed from the line, whereby a Another feature lof the invention relates to the organization of the apparatus and combination of parts whereby the step-bystep element is released and caused to return to normal position when current is removed from the electromagnet.

Other features of the invention relate to the details of construction and combination of parts, whereby there is produced a device of lfew and simple parts adapted to maintain adjustment 'under severe conditions of operation, and one which may be easily manufactured.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a View in front elevation of a device embodying the features of this invention; Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional View with parts broken away taken upon line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the holding means and coperating parts; Figs. 6 and 7 are details of the contact-closing positions; and Fig. 8 is a detail View of one of the contact springs.

In the drawings, 5 and 6 designate electromagnet windings mounted upon a base or supporting bracket 7 and having polar extensions 8 and 9. Secured at one end to the polar extensions 8 and 9, and at its other end by the base or supporting bracket 7 is a frame comprising front and back members 10 and 11, top'cross members 12 and 13 and bottom cross member 14. Pivotally supported in the upper end of said frame and centrally thereof is a downwardly extending arm 15. Attached to this arm and extending at right angles thereto vthrough an opening 16 in the frame member 11 is a supporting arm 17, upon the outer end of which is mounted an armature 18 of the electromagnet. Upon the lower end of the arm 15 are formed pawls 21 and 22 adapted to coperate with a step-by-step element or toothed wheel 23 mounted between the frame members 10 and 11. The wheel 23 is normally retained in a position with a pinv 24 therein in engagement with a stop member 25 by means of a spring 26. The wheel 23 is moved against the tension of the spring 26, however, by the action of the pawls 2l and 22, which separately vengage said wheel 23 as the armature 18 is actuated in response to alternating current impulses through the electromagnets 5 and 6.

Mounted upon the shaft of the toothed wheel 23 and adapted to move therewith is a contact member comprising arms 30 and 31 of unequal lengths. These' arms 30 and 31 are adapted to coperate with spring contact members 32 and 33 and to be brought separately into contact therewith in response to the same number of impulses through the windings 5 and 6 depending upon what the polarity of the first current impulse is. That is, if the polarity of the first impulse should be in a negative direction, for eX- ample, then the last impulse of current of a given number of impulses would bring the longer arm into position to be engaged by the spring contact member 32 when the impulses cease and current is removed from the line. pulse had been positive, then at the end of the same given number of impulses the shorter arm 31 would have been moved into position to be engaged by the spring contact member 33 when the impulses closed and current was removed from the line.

The spring Contact members 32 and 33 are mounted upon projections 35 and 36 formed upon the frame member 10 and are normally in engagement with insulating studs 37 and mounted upon the pawls 21 and 22. Each of the spring contact members 32 and 33"is provided on its lower end with a Curved portion 39 projecting at right angles thereto. vThe members 39 provided upon the lower ends of spring contact members 32 and 33 are positioned upon the same side of a horizontal line drawn through the center of the shaft carrying the toothed wheel 23. The member 39 on the spring 32 is adapted to engage a pin 40 projecting inwardly from the longer arm 30 of the contact member, while theI member 39 of the spring 33 is i adapted to engage a pin 41 projecting inwardly from the shorter arm-31 of the contact member.

The relation of the toothed wheel 23 and the stepping pawls 21 and 22 is such that if the polarity of the first impulse of current is of the direction to cause the attraction of the left-hand end of armature 18, arm 15 will be swung to the right, causing pawl 22 to engage toothed wheel 23 between two teeth without moving wheel 23 from its nor# I mal position. 'On the other hand, had the polarity of the rst impulse of current been of the opposite direction, the right-hand end of armature18 would have been attracted to swing arm 15 to the left, thereby causing pawl 21 to engage a tooth of lwheel 23 to advance the wheel one step from its normal position. A

In order to prevent the toothed wheel 23 from returning to normal under action of the spring 26 during a changein polarity of the actuating current, and while one pawl is moving out of engagement with the said wheel and the other is moving into engagement therewith, there is provided a flexible member 42. This member 42 is pivotally supported upon the frame member 11 at apoint .51 and 'is adapted in the movement of If, however, the first current im- Y.

the arm 15 to engage the toothed wheel 23 either upon the top of a tooth or between two adjacent teeth, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. As shown inthese figures, the member42 is provided with two angularly disposed arms 43 and 44 adapted in the movement of the arm 15 to be engaged by .projections or pins 45 and 46 carried by said arm to move said member 42 into engagement with the toothed wheel 23. Normally or when the arm 15 is in its midway position, to which it will be moved by means of a spring 47 attached at one end to the arm 43 and at its other end to a stationary arm 48 mounted npon the frame member 11, the pins 45 and 46 will be in engagement with the arms 43l and 44.

When the arm 15 is swung to the left by the attraction of the right-hand end of armature 18, the pin 45 bearing against the end of the arm 43 swings the holding 15 has about reached its midway position and after pawl 21 has moved out of engagement with toothed wheel 23, spring 47 will vhave moved the holding member 42 about its pivot 51 to such an extent that the lower end of 42 is now jmoved out of engagement with wheel 23. However, at this time, the pawl 22 is almost in engagement with a tooth of wheel 23, and the speed of movement of arm 15 is such that the length of time between the disengagement of 42 and the engagement of pawl 22 with the toothed wheel 23 is not suilicient to permit the spring 26 to overcome the inertia of wheel 23 and sta-rt it onl its'backward travel; hence the wheel 23 will beheld in its advanced position. As arm 15 continues its movement to the right and'beyond its midway position, pin 46 bearing against the end of arm 44 swings the holding member 42 about its pivot 51 against the action of sprlng 47, again causing the lower end of 42 to engage the top of a tooth of wheel 23, as shown in Fig 4. Pin 45 is now out of engagement with the arm 43'. When arm 15 is moved from its eXtreme position on the right to that on the left, the holding member 42 op-l erates in the same way as above described to hold wheel 23 in its advanced position.

When current is removed from the line, the spring 47 acting upon the arm 43 will cause the swinging arm 15 to move into its mldway position where both pins 45 and 46 responding spring contact the step-by-step element 23 will be returned to its normal- Referring now to the operation of the device, it will be assumed that alternating current impulses are being sent through the electromagnet windings, the first one of which is of a polarity to attract theleft- Yhand end of the armature 18 and cause the lower end of the swinging arm 15 to move to the right and bring the pawl 22 into engagement with the wheel 23 between two teeth withouty causing any movement of wheel 23. As the swinging arm 15 swings to the right the pin 46 therein will engage the angular arm 44 to throw the holding member 42 into engagement with the wheel 23. Upon the reversal of the current impulses, however, the right-hand end of the armature 18 will` be attracted to swing thev lower end of the arm 15 in a left-hand direction to cause the pawl 21 to engage a tooth of the toothed wheel 23 to move the wheel one step. As the lower end of the arm 15 swings from right to left, it will cause the disengagement of the pin 46 from the arm 44 and cause the engagement of the pin with the arm 43 to again move the holding member 42 into engagement with the wheel 23. It will be noted that the spring contact members 32 and 33 are provided with stop members 60 and 61, which limit Vtheir movement inwardly or toward the Wheel 23, but said contact members are free to be moved outwardly by ,the movement of the swinging arm 15, the spring 32 being moved outwardly upon the engagement of pawl 21 with the wheel 23, and the spring 33 by engagement of the pawl 22 with the wheel 23. An even number of current impulses, one half of positive polarity and the other half of negative polarity, the positive and negative alternating, is required to bring the y end of the longer arm 30 into position,

whereupon removal of current from the line the pin 40 in the longer arm 30 will be engaged by the curved portion 39 on the lower end of the spring member 32, as shown in Fig. 6, assuming that the first impulse of current was of a polarity to attract the left-hand end of the armature 18. The engagement of the pin 4() with the'curved portion 39 will retain the wheel 23 in the position to which it has been advanced, and a circuit will be completed which may linclude the spring contact member 32, the

arm 30 and the shaft of the wheel 23. -It will be noted that since the rst impulse of current was of a polarity to attract the lefthand end of armature 18, and although an even number of current impulses was required to bring the longer arm 30 into posi tion, the number of steps by which wheel 23 lwas advanced was one less than the number of current impulses requlred. Had

' the first impulse been of the opposite polarity that is, in a direction to attract the right-hand end of the armature, the wheel 23 would have advanced one step in response to-the first impulse of current and thereafter the operation of the Wheel 23 would have been precisely the same, except at the end of the same number of impulses and a number of steps by which wheel 23 was advanced corresponding to the number of impulses the contact spring 33 would1 have had its curved portion 39 brought into engagement with the pin 41 of the shorter arm 31, and the circuit for the signal would have been' completed through the contact spring 33, the arm 31 and the shaft of the wheel 23.

The number of steps required to bring the shorter arm 31 into position to permit curved end v39 of contact spring 33 to engage pin 41 is always one more than the number required to bring the longer arm 30 into position to permit curved end 39 of contact spring 32 to engage pin 40. It will be seen that if the contact springs 32 and 33 be connected in multiple in circuit with any kind of signaling device controlled by the selector, it will make no difference what the polarity of the vfirst impulse of current is, for a given number of impulses will cause the engagement of pin 40 and contact spring 32, or pin 41 and contact spring 33, and will in either case control the same signal, so that it becomes unnecessary to pole the line to which the selector is connected.

It will be noted that the relation of thepins 40 and 41 with respect to the contact springs 32 and 33 is such that when the springs 32 and 33 are in their inner posi-v tions, the pins 40 `and 41 will pass upon vthe outside of the curved portions 39 of the respective springs, and when said springs are in their outer positions said pins will pass by said curved portions upon the inside cient distance'to cause its pin to move from position where it would be engaged by its corresponding spring contacts, if current were removed, to a position where it will not be engaged by its contact spring. The wheel 23 may be released to return to normal by sending through the windings of the electromagnet a complete cycle of alternating current. This will move the arms and 31 beyond the position Where the pins 40. and 4:1 are in position to engage their coperating contact springs, and When the current ceases the spring26 will return the wheel 23 to normal position.

The arms 30 and 31 are made ofunequal lengths in order that with a large number of selectors on the same line, some of which require a large number of impulses to operate, there will be no likelihood of interference between the arm 31 and the contact spring 32 or the' arm 30 and the contact spring 33, since the pin 41 of the arm 31 will pass between the spring 32 and the wheel 23 in all positions of said spring 32, and the pin 40 in the arm 30 will pass beyond the outermost position of the spring 33.

One of the principal advantages of a structure made in accordance with this in- `vention is that it is not necessary to pole the line, that is to say, the devices will work regardless of what polarity of current is rst sent over the line in the calling operation. Moreover, very small energy is required to operate the selector, and it is possible to operate a .number of them on very. long lines without the use of resistance Jfor tapering the line in order that lthe selector farthest from the operatingl source will receive the same amount of current as that nearest to said source, as' in the caseof selectors operating on direct current. The speed at which a selector made in accordance with this invention may 'be operated is not limited by residual flux in the direct current selector, since each impulse wipes out the residual flux of the preceding impulse. Another advantage of this'device is the simplicity of construction, there being but few parts all easily accessible for adjustment and replacement. By producing a 'structure in which the step-by-step element is automatically re- 'turned to normal position upon removal of current from the line it is unnecessary to provide any special form of synchronizing means for placing all of such devices on the same line in their normal or zero positions.

What is claimed is: 1. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an

electromagnet, an arm operated in response to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet tomove said step-by-step element in a given direction, and a pair of contacts controlled by said step-by-step element, one of said contacts being closed by said element in response to a given' 'number of alternating current impulses through said electromagnet beginning with one polarity, and the other of said contacts being closed by said element in response to the same number of impulses beginning with the opposite polarity.

2. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a vstep-by-step element, an electromagnet, an arm operated in response `to alternating current impulses through the electromagnet to move said step-by-step element in a given direction, a contact-closing member carried by said step-by-step element and comprising oppositely extending arms, and a pair of contact springs coperating with said arms, one of said contact springs being engaged by one of said arms upon the operation of said step-by-step element in response to a given number of alternating cur-.85 rent impulses through said electromagnet beginning with one polarity, and the other of said contact rsprings being engaged by the other of said arms in response to the same number of impulses of alternating current through said electromagnet beginning with the opposite polarity.

3. In 4a selectively o erated circuit-controlling device, a stepy-step element, an electromagnet, an yarm operated in response to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet to advance said element step by step in a given direction a pair of contact springs located upon opposite s ides of said step-by-step element, and a contact member comprising arms of different lengths carried by said step-bystep element, one of said arms 'being brought into contact with the contact spring upon one side of said stepby-step element in response to a given number of impulses of alternatingcurrent beginning-with one polarity, and the other arm being brought into contact withv the other of said contact springs in response to the same number of alternating current im- 110 pulses beginning with the opposite polarity.

4. In a selectively operatedA circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet, a centrally pivoted armature vresponsive to alternating current impulses ed to separately engage said step-by-step element in the operation of said armature to advance it step by step, and a holding element moved into and out of engagement With said step-by-step element at each change in polarity of the stepping current to retain said step-by-step element in adadapted t'o separately engage said step-bystep element in the operation of said armature, and a pivotally supported member located adjacent said arm and moved by said arm into engagement with said step-by-step element at each change of polarity of the actuating current.

7. 1n a selectively operated circuit controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet, means responsive to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet to advance said step-by-'step element in one direction, a circuit-closing arm carried by said step-by-step element, and a contact 'spring coperating with said arm when said step-by-step element has been moved apredetermined distance and current removed from the line to hold said step-by-step element in advanced position and close a signaling circuit, said arm being moved'past said spring Without engagement therewith in response to continuing impulses.

8. Inl a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet,l a pivoted arm operating in response to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet, a pair of pawls carried by said arm and adapted to separately engage said step-by-step element in response tothe impulses through the elec*- tromagnet to advance said step-by-step element in one direction, a contact arm carried by said step-by-step element, a pin projecting from the end of said arm, a contact spring movable With said pivoted arm in response to an impulse of one polarity but stationary With respect thereto when said arm is moved in response to current of the optrolling device, a step-by-step element, an

electromagnet, stepping means operated in response to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet for advancing said step-by-step element, means for causing said stepping means to move out of engagement With said step-by-step element when current is removed from the electromagnet, and means for returning said step-by-stcp element to normal position when disengaged from said stepping means.

10. In a selectively operated circuit-con 1 trolling device, a step-by-step element, an l electromagnet, stepping pawls, a centrally pivoted armature carrying said pawls and responding to alternating current impulses through said electromagne't to cause said pawls to separately engage said step-by-step element, means operating upon removal of current from said electromagnet to move said armature into a neutral position vvithcJ said pawls out of engagement With said stepby-step element, and meansfor returning said step-by-step element to normal'position when disengaged from said pawls.

11. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet, an armature therefor, stepping pawls controlled by said armature and brought separately into engagement with said step-by-step element in response to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet, spring actuated means for moving said armature into a neutral position with said pawls out of engagement with said step-by-step element when current is removed from said electromagnet, and a spring `for returning said step-by-step element to normal position When disengaged from said pawls.

12. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet, a centrally pivoted armature responsive to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet, stepping meansv operated by said armature and engaging said element to advance it step by step in response to the impulses through said electromagnet, and means controlled by the movement of said armature to retain Jsaid step-bystep element in advanced position during the change in polarity of the actuating current.

13. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an electromagnet, a centrally pivoted armature responsive to alternating current impulses throughsaid electromagnet, an arm carried by said armature, stepping means on said arm adapted to engage said step-by-step'element in the-operation of said armature to advance it step by step, and alholding elef ment moved into and out of engagement with said step-by-step element at each change in polarity of the stepping c urent to retain said step-by-step element 1n advanced position during a change in polarity of the operating current.

14. In a selectively operated circuit-controlling device, a step-by-step element, an 5 electromagnet, a centrally pivoted armature responsive to alternating current impulses through said electromagnet, an arm carried by said armature, stepping means carried by said arm adapted to engage said step-by 10 step element inthe operation of said armature, and a pivotally supported member located adjacent said arm and moved by said arm into engagement With said step-by-step element at each change of polarity of the actuating current. 15

n Witness whereof, l hereunto subscribe my name this 25th day of March, A. D.

JOSEPH C. FELD. Witnesses:

K. L. STAHL, E. EDLER. 

